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By Ronnie Toofan

How do you define success? Is it the fulfillment of your desires or the number of accomplishments you have in your life? Is it about being content with your life without having any plans to further your career? Or is it about having more money over quality time with your loved ones?

I ask these questions because in order for you to position yourself to succeed, you need to have a clear concept and understanding of what it means to you first.

When I was still a student, I thought graduating from college with honors was success. But it didn’t end there because I had to struggle to find a good-paying job. When I finally had a job, I thought that getting a promotion and being a part of the management team was success. But when I got there, something was still missing. I wasn’t happy and I still had a lot of complaints about several things in my life. So, I resigned and tried to pursue my dreams. However, I still didn’t feel that I was successful.

So, I decided to take my girlfriend out for ice cream one night so that I could talk to her about my confusion. She told me that success is actually kind of like eating ice cream, you will satisfy your craving at first and then get tired of it, but after a few hours, you’ll start to feel hungry again. And it’s totally normal.

Yea, she’s a little weird, but I get her. What she was trying to say was that life is not stagnant, so we have to adjust, shift or change our perspective from time to time or whenever necessary. Also, success is something continuous and progressive. There’s no end or limit to it so we always have to work to keep the flow of good things coming into our life.

Inspired by ice cream, I wanted to share with you these ways to strengthen your personal being and position yourself for continuous growth and fulfillment.

Always Love Faithfully

Success is all about relationships. If you don’t know how to value your connections, respect others and be sensitive to other people’s boundaries, you will never make it in this life.  So be genuine, take care of your commitments by giving people your time and learning how to communicate effectively, and most of all, develop trust in your relationships.

Here are some ways to maintain your relationships and keep your partner faithful:

• Make your partner feel that you see her more positively than she sees herself.
• Avoid people who have cheated in the past.
• Increase your distance from others who could potentially cause problems in your relationship.

Increase Your Failure Tolerance

There’s a famous saying that goes, “In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.” If you are impatient and intolerant when it comes to setbacks, your journey to success will end abruptly with no rewarding outcome.

You have to understand that sometimes, things have to go wrong before they go right. So, consider your failure as something temporary, learn the importance of humility and always move forward with a positive attitude.

Make a Commitment to Self-Care

Self-care is not only limited to maintaining a healthy diet, exercising regularly and getting enough sleep and rest. It is also about observing your mind, filtering your thoughts and practicing mindful awareness.

Taking care of your well-being inside and out helps you progress faster. It can reduce stress, prevent burnout, and increase positive emotional states to improve your focus and performance.

Writer Allie Stark suggests doing these steps to separate yourself from your thoughts and clearly see the reality of the present moment.

Don’t Limit Yourself

Go as far as you can go. Believe that you are so much stronger than you think and that you can achieve anything as long as you put your heart and mind to it.

When you don’t make an effort to push yourself to the limits, you will never know how tough you are and how great you can be. So, avoid settling for being average and for what is convenient, instead always challenge yourself to fully experience life, welcome new opportunities, conquer your goals and be happy.

I exercise alone in my room at least three times a week. It’s harder to get motivated because I’m on my own, I depend on myself alone with no friends or gym fees to push me. So, whenever I’m feeling lazy or too tired to finish my workout, I always look at myself in the mirror to see my worst competition. In that way, I inspire myself to be better, defeat the negative thoughts in my head and just focus on my own progress.

To help push past YOUR limits, check this out – “5 Brutal Exercises That Are Not Easy, At All.”